MILAN, FOOD CAPITAL

11/07/2018

Despite some initial scepticism – especially among Italy’s mass media – Expo Milano 2015 proved to be a great success. A success according to the public, which was both numerous and greatly participative. Successful in its choice of theme: ‘Feed the Planet, Energy for Life’, a topical theme of widespread interest. And finally, success guaranteed by the quality of the organisation, which turned out better than that of previous decades. But besides all this – three years on, what is left of the Expo 2015 Milan legacy?

Not just fashion and design, today Milan is more than ever the international capital of food. For countless reasons. We list a few of them below.

• Thanks to an architectural make-over of entire districts of the city, a number of new restaurants were launched. According to the Chamber of Commerce, after Expo the number of restaurants in the Milan-Monza-Lodi district increased by 1,482, bringing the overall number of eateries in the area to over 22,000, representing a turnover of 2.6 billion, equal to 14.7% of Italy overall.

• Every year in May the city hosts Milano Food City, a week of events, talks and tastings dedicated to food and Seeds and Chips, the international food innovation summit.

• Milan is the best-known and most popular branch of the Italian haute cuisine convention, Identità Golose, and is also home to TuttoFood, an unmissable date for employees and workers.

• With its 24 Michelin stars, Milan is Italy’s most starred city for 2018. Michelin-addicts can choose between four two-star restaurants and 16 one-star restaurants.

• Milan is home to Gualtiero Marchesi’s Academy of Cuisine; the institution was named after a legendary chef.

• You can sample dishes from all over the world in Milan: Chinese, Japanese, Mexican and Indian, but also Russian, Greek, Northern European and South American.

• After Expo, food delivery services multiplied greatly Foodora, Just Eat, Uber Eats, Bacchetteforchette and Deliveroo), delivering all kinds of dishes to anywhere in the city.

• The new metropolitan markets often rise from the ashes of the old ones: born over the past few years today they are an obligatory stop for citizens and tourists, selling food where you can eat as you buy.

• Milan’s food trucks have evolved into a gourmet version: with a wide range on offer which is surprisingly similar to haute cuisine.

Today there is no doubt that the gourmet food and wine sector is one of Milan’s boasting points – in 2017 the city played host to nine million tourists, 10.3% more than the previous year. By tourist numbers alone, over the past few years Milan – the 14th most visited city in the world – has regularly ranked higher than Rome, a capital city of inestimable cultural, artistic and historical legacy.